“No, her crazy ass wrote me a ten page letter telling me why she was sticking up those dudes back then and apologizing. I’m going to talk her though. I don’t hate her either. Wait a minute,” Cee paused. “Did you see that group message with the pictures?”
“Hell yeah that’s why I took the kids out of school and brought them up here with me.”
“Maybe I should have one of the trips pick up Shelby and PJ.”
“You should and keep them in the house for a few days until this blow over.”
“What makes you think it’s going to blow over soon?” Cee asked.
“I’m about to make a call that I should have made two weeks ago.”
“Hey Joey,” a medium height Indonesian man called out as he exited the Luxe Headquarters’ building carrying a black computer processor.
“Hello Iwan,” Joey greeted, as he got closer. “I didn’t know you were here already.”
“I was nearby when you called.”
“Excuse me,” Cee interrupted. “I have to get back to my client and I’ll make sure Braden and the little ones are okay.”
“I’ll be in there in as soon as I’m done out here,” returning her attention to Iwan, Joey asked, “Did you find out who hacked into our security cameras?”
“No one.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” Iwan answered. “Although, there is something fudgy going on with the hard drive that’s linked to the security cameras.”
“Fudgy? What does that mean?”
“I believe that it’s been tampered with. I installed a new hard drive and I’m going to take this one with me and see what’s going on with it.”
* * *
Later that evening Jason and Zay stood in baggage claim of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, awaiting the arrival of their older brothers. Tony and Rico Tappens had been released that morning from Manchester Federal Prison in Kentucky. Jason and Zay had not told anyone that the older Tappens’ boys would be home on this day. Everyone else in the family wasn’t expecting them for another twenty-four hours. Jason and Zay beamed with pride when they saw their older brothers descending down the escalator. Rico and Tony were tall, slim, and athletically built. Tony’s skin was the color of a toasted almond and Rico’s was the color of dark honey. Both older Tappens brothers were in their early forties, but neither looked a day over thirty-three.
At the bottom of the escalator the brothers hugged tightly, smiling so hard that all thirty-two teeth in each of their mouths could be counted. “It feels damn good to be free.” Tony announced with tears in his eyes still having a hard time grasping that he was free after eighteen years.
“It does indeed,” Rico nodded, checking out every female in his peripheral. His eyes locked in on a white girl in denim hot shorts and an ample backside. “Damn, these bitches don’t even wear clothes no more and when did white girls grow these humungous asses.”
Everyone laughed at Rico who was known to be the most animated of the four brothers. On the way to the parking deck Tony and Rico looked around in amazement at the modern automobiles, fashion, and technology. They felt as if they were in a time warp. Jason unlocked the doors to his Denali XL via remote.
“This you?” Rico asked wide eyed.
“Yeah.”
“This thang here is beautiful,” Rico said. He was even more impressed by the interior of the truck, prompting him to ask his little brothers, “what da hell is y’all doing out here? I can tell y’all getting plenty of money.”
Laughing, Zay answered, “Don’t worry about what we do just sit back and kick your feet up. We got you.” Zay went into the glove box and handed his two older brothers cell phones and ten thousand dollars each. “That’s a little pocket money for you.”
“Y’all definitely getting it,” Tony stated. “Thanks for the paper, but what the hell is this?” he asked holding up the cell.
Laughing, in unison Jason and Zay replied, “It’s an iPhone.”
* * *
“I don’t even recognize Charlotte now,” Rico said getting out the truck in front of Dorenda’s house. “I can’t believe they tore down Boulevard Homes.”
“Me either.” Tony said.
“That ain’t nothing,” Zay said. “Fairview Homes, Piedmont Court, and Dalton Village are gone too.”
“These crackers not playing no games.” Rico said.
Jason tapped a few times on his mother’s door. Moments later Dorenda opened the door in a floral black and purple silk house dress. “Zay, Jason, I wasn’t expecting you boys. Come on in,” she turned to walk away.”
“Wait Ma,” Zay said.
“What is it?” Dorenda turned around.
Jason and Zay stepped apart so that Dorenda could see in between them.
“Hey Mama,” Tony and Rico smiled.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Dorenda screamed looking to the sky, tears fell from her eyes. “Oh Lord my babies are free. Thank you Lord.”
Tony and Rico ran up the steps and wrapped their arms around their mother holding onto one another as all three cried tears of joy. As happy as Tony and Rico were to be free, no one was happier in the room than Dorenda to have all four of her sons together. Dorenda went to each one of them and touched their faces.
“My prayers have been answered. Why didn’t you boys tell me you were coming today? I would’ve cooked a big meal for you.”
“We wanted to surprise you,” Tony said.
“And we didn’t want you to cook,” Jason added. “We’re taking you out for dinner.”
“I don’t want to eat out,” Dorenda said. “I want to eat here so we can talk and laugh as loud as we want. I already started making food for the dinner tomorrow, I’ll make some more stuff and we can eat here.”
“Okay Mama we doing it however you want to do it. We can eat here and do dinner out tomorrow before the party,” Zay said. “I’m going to get Joey and the kids.”
“Yes get all my grandchildren here. Tony, Rico do your daughters know you’re home?”
“They’re on the way over,” Jason answered for his older brothers. “They don’t know that Tony and Rico are here yet though.”
“Good-good,” Dorenda gushed. “All my sons and my grandchildren here in my house at one time. God is good, God is good! Yes he is!!!”
Chapter Eleven
“What’s wrong baby?” Reza asked Evan as he watched her mope around her bedroom-sized closet getting dressed in silence. He couldn’t help but notice that she was sad.
“I’m a little down.”
“About what?”
“Everything. My two best friends hate me; this stupid ass stalker is destroying and scaring the shit out of me at the same time. Tonight I have to put on a brave face to go and provide my best service at a party for the brothers of the person who can’t stand the sight of me.”
“Cee and Joey don’t hate you. They’re rightfully upset and hurt, but y’all will get past it. You’re a different person now and you’ve kept it real when shit hit front street. I know Zay, eventually he’ll get over it too.”
“I hope so,” she said slipping on a white Missoni knit mini tank dress. “Can you zip me up please?” Evan turned her back to Reza.
Slowly moving the zipper upward, Reza said, “Zay is the only person that knows you robbed me.”
“You told him? Why?”
“He put it together. It wasn’t hard to figure out, he was my stickman back then.
“Wow, stickman, there’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time.”
“Yeah that’s-that VA slang. Anyway Zay thinks I’m seven-thirty for dealing with you. At the same time when I told him you deserved a pass because you were young and dude had your head fucked up, I think he understood.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know, Zay has never really cared too much for me,” Evan stepped into a pair of metallic gold Blahnik pumps. “Joey thinks that I don’t know. I could always tell by the way he looked at me. I can only imagine what he thinks of
me now.”
“Enough of that depressing shit. I got some good news today.”
“What kind of good news?”
“My parole officer approved my transfer.”
“Yaaaay,” Evan gleamed. “Finally something that I can be happy about.” She grabbed his face and planted a soft sensual kiss on his lips. Holding Evan by the waist he looked her in the eye.
“You wanted me to stay; now you got me. So treat a nigga right.”
Eyes twinkling Evan smiled cheerfully, “I wouldn’t dream of treating you any other way!”
Reza took her hand and led her over to an upholstered cream and white paisley sleigh bench in the middle of her enormous closet and sat down.
“When I say treat me right, I’m not just talking about some cater to me type shit. Treat me right means be one hundred with me at all times. Despite our past circumstances I’m rocking with you and I know a lot of people wouldn’t understand that, but it’s not for nobody to understand but us.”
“Since you’re being clear with me I have to ask, you’re not staying with me because of what I have to offer are you?”
“Go ahead yo,” he pulled hand away from hers. “You asked me to stay and I don’t want shit from you. Like I told you before I wasn’t stupid. I put up plenty of paper for that rainy day that I knew would come eventually.”
“Didn’t mean to offend you, but you have to understand even I wonder from time to time how you could be with me after what I did to you.”
“I’m not as devout to Islam or on my din as I should be, but I learned a lot from my religion while I was on the inside. I don’t think or rationalize on a basic level. And I don’t have to explain to anyone how I can or why I love you.”
Shocked, Evan’s eyes widened, and her heart thumped wildly against her chest. “Did you-did you just say that you love me?”
“Yes.”
She threw her arms around his neck, “Oh baby I love you too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to scare you off. You know how you men are when women start throwing the L-word around.”
“I guess I have to keep reminding you that I’m not most men. I know it’s time to go, so let me get to the point.”
“Okay,” Evan agreed.
“I have some people I can reach out to from back in the day that can definitely find out who is stalking you. Not only will they find them, but they will eliminate them. Before I reach out to them I have to know that you have been one hundred with me about everything.”
“Of course I’ve been honest, I’ve told you all my deepest secrets—things that until recently I hid from my two closest friends for years.”
“Because of our past, you can’t afford to keep anything from me, and I’m warning you only this one time, do not cross me. Yes, I love you and for reasons I can’t seem to put in words, I’m deeply in love with you. But, I swear on the eyes of my children if you cross me the consequences won’t be nothing nice.”
***
“Everybody almost ready?” Zay asked entering the family room of his home, fastening a diamond cufflink on his white linen button up.
“I’m ready,” Tony replied. He was a beautiful sight, his brown skin cloaked in all white Bottega Veneta. Fresh out the barber’s chair the one blade on his Caesar and the trim on his beard were exquisite.
“Rico and Jason’s pretty asses still upstairs getting dressed.” Back together only close to forty-eight hours and the brothers were paired up how they were when they were younger. Tony and Zay, the two level headed brothers, would often be found in deep conversation; while the two cowboys Rico and Jason would be off to the side sharing tales of wild women and drunken nights.
“You need some help with that?” Tony pointed to Zay’s wrist as he continued to struggle with the cufflink.
“Yeah, Joey usually hooks them for me?”
“Damn, I can’t believe we still haven’t met her yet. As much as you wrote and talked about her the last ten years.”
“She’s been busy working on the party for you guys. That’s why she didn’t come to mom’s house with the kids and me. She didn’t even leave the Luxe last night, because everything has to be to her perfect standards. You want a drink?” Zay asked as he went behind the wet bar.
“I don’t even know why you asked, pour me a double. Shiiit I’m trying to make up for eighteen years of forced sober living.”
Chuckling, Zay pulled out four cognac snifters and a thirty-eight hundred dollar bottle of Richard Hennessy. “I bought this,” he held up the Hennessy, “a year ago and I counted down the days and hours til’ you and Rico would be released and I would crack it open it to share a toast with my big brothers.” Zay poured a double shot in each snifter and handed one to Tony. “One toast while we wait on them two slow asses won’t hurt the moment.”
“It sure won’t,” Tony raised his glass.
Zay raised his glass, “to the last of a dying breed. You and Rico took that eighteen on the chest and did the time just like real niggas supposed to.”
The brothers tapped snifters then drained the liquor from them.
“I’m proud of you and Jason,” Tony said. “You held it down out here and from the looks of this mansion and everything else I’ve seen; my little brothers have done very well.”
“Yes we have and the thanks go to you. Everything that I know about this treacherous game I learned from you,” Zay refilled the snifters.
“Yeah you may have followed my map, but what you boys built requires a strong hustle and extreme intelligence; two things that come from within.”
Zay blushed from the recognition by his older brother, who’d also assumed the role of father figure when their father passed. “I appreciate that especially coming from you.”
“I’m still a straight shooter and I give props where they are due,” he took a sip from his glass, “I’m curious about a few things if you don’t want to discuss them I understand.”
“Ain’t nothing I can’t or won’t discuss with you.”
“How much white do you have to move in a month to afford a place like this?”
“I don’t fuck with cocaine, stepped up to the major leagues and got into the dog food game.”
“You moved onto heroine?”
“Yeah. A little over five years ago, my connect showed me that the real paper was in heroine. One brick of the boy is equal to three to four bricks of quality coke.”
“Charlotte has changed,” Tony said. “This wasn’t much of a heroine city when I left.”
“It still isn’t people around here still prefer that white girl,” Zay responded. “Most of my business in the city comes from the Eastside, and the Greenville neighborhood. It ain’t much to brag about though. We do real good in Greensboro, Winston, and Durham. Those three spots are money in the bank. Nothing compares to the money we make in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area. I’ve stacked crazy cake from them places.”
“A dude from B-More that was locked up with us was worth a billion off that dope, but the nigga ratted when they got him. He shitted on his workers and gave up the name of his supplier from across the water.”
“That’s a damn shame,” Zay shook his head. “Made all that money and turned into a fuckin’ rat.”
“Aye I know it’s some room for Rico and me to make a few dollars with you and Jason.”
“Nah, it’s not.”
Furrowing his brows, Tony frowned at his little brother’s answer. No was the last thing he expected to hear. “Damn it’s like that you can’t put ya family on?”
“Of course I could put you on and risk you going back to prison for the rest of your lives, catching twenty years in your early twenties is totally different from catching twenty in your early forties. Or, I could give you the money that we put up for you two. I’m not talking a couple of hundred stacks either; I’m talking a few million each.”
Tony choked on the liquor that was gliding down his throat. He coughed rough
ly a few times. “A few,” he coughed again, “a few million? Y’all getting that kinda paper?”
Zay nodded his head.
“I appreciate it man. I ain’t going to say no to it, a hundred stacks would have done me fine… I know that you had to hustle hard for that money, it’s not going to hurt your pockets?”
“Not at all, I’ve had a great run. Even if it did hurt my pockets I’d do it for you and Rico. Y’all took care of us. I’m also doing it for Mama. I want y’all to stay free for her. That’s enough money to buy a crazy house, a nice whip and start a business. I own a few businesses that I can give y’all the blueprint to and you two can stay out the game.”
When Tony went away to do his time he knew that his family would be okay, because Zay was bright and a natural hustler. But the things that his younger brother had accomplished in the past two decades amazed him. He tapped the rim of his glass. “Hit me again lil bro.” Zay topped Tony’s glass off with two more shots.
Tony raised his glass. “When I left you were a boy, and now you’re a real man better than that you’re a self-made man. I’m so proud of you and thankful for you.”
Once again the brothers tapped glasses and tossed down the shots.
“Could you keep the money thing between us?” Zay asked. “I really wanted to surprise the both of you with it. I knew that it was going to be hard. I knew that one of you was going to be coming at me about getting on, I just expected it to be Rico first.”
“Oh don’t worry he’ll be coming at you real soon,” Tony replied. “Hell, he probably up there in Jason ear right now.” Tony was amped about the money, but there were other things that he’d picked up on and he wanted to get answers to while Rico was not around. It wasn’t that he was being sneaky, he just didn’t want to discuss sensitive issues in front of Rico. After eighteen years on the inside Rico was still a hot head and easy to fly off the handle. There were many days that Tony had to talk him out of impulsive and poor decisions that could’ve prolonged his time in prison or landed him on death row.
“Zay what’s going on with this football nigga that tried your wife?”
The Conglomerate: A Luxorious Tale Page 18